Mapping Sites on Bone and Soft Tissue of the Head, Neck and Thorax at Which a Bone Vibrator Elicits Auditory Sensation

This study was designed to map the sites on the skin of the head, neck and thorax at which a clinical bone vibrator elicits auditory sensation. In 10 subjects with normal hearing, a bone vibrator delivering a 2000-Hz warble tone, at an intensity which was at least 5 dB below the intensity which elicited a sensation by air conduction over each site, was applied to 25 sites with an application force of 500 g. Auditory sensations were elicited at many soft tissue (underlying bone >1 cm below the skin) and osseous (bone <0.5 cm below the skin) sites on the head, neck and thorax in all subjects, down to the sternum and thoracic vertebrae. Therefore, auditory vibrations induced at many sites on the head, neck and thorax can reach the cochlea and elicit auditory sensation.